Stanhope in Weardale (Carboniferous of the United Kingdom)

Where: England, United Kingdom (54.7° N, 2.0° W: paleocoordinates 0.4° S, 6.0° E)

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Great Limestone Member (Alston Formation), Pendleian (330.9 - 327.0 Ma)

• Also called Main Limestone

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: limestone

• “Limestone (bioclastic packstone), medium to dark blue-grey, thickly bedded with thin shaly mudstone partings along uneven or wavy bedding planes. There is much crinoid debris throughout and there are many other beds rich in brachiopods and/or corals. The internal stratigraphy of the member is, in parts, remarkably consistent throughout the region and four informal divisions are recognised (Fairbairn, 1980), and referred to from the base upwards as the Bench, Main and Transitional posts and the Tumbler Beds. Beds rich in fossils are widespread. Most noteable and widespread are: the Chaetetes Band (Johnson, 1958) which occurs near the base; this comprises a sponge biostrome along with locally abundant brachiopods, corals and ostracods; within the Main Posts are the Brunton Band comprising the rare alga Calcifolium (Johnson, 1958; Cossey, et al, 2004), and the Frosterly Marble (Johnson, 1958). At the top, the Tumbler Beds, typically 2-5m thich, comprise thick beds of limestone interbedded with persistent mudstone units.”

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: J. D. Longstaff. 1912. Some new lower Carboniferous Gastropoda. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 68:295-309 [P. Wagner/P. Wagner]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 157645: authorized by Pete Wagner, entered by Pete Wagner on 27.06.2014

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Gastropoda
 Murchisoniina - Eotomariidae
"Mourlonia (Trechmannia) trochiformis n. sp." = Euconospira trochiformis
"Mourlonia (Trechmannia) trochiformis n. sp." = Euconospira trochiformis Longstaff 1912 snail
Great Limestone
 Murchisoniina - Gosseletinidae
Tropidostropha punctata Longstaff 1912 snail
Bivalvia
 Cardiidia - Sanguinolitidae
Wilkingia regularis King 1845 clam
Main Limestone
Myofossa (Myofossa) hindi clam
Great Limestone
 Pholadomyida - Edmondiidae
Allorisma sulcata clam
Main Limestone
 Pholadomyida - Pholadomyidae
Cosmomya variabilis clam
Main Limestone